#kh3 secret ending

[caehum]

i finally finished my yozora model but then artblock hit me so badly that i lost every ounce of creativity in me so all i can do is this

[kinglets]

sora in quadratum to match my riku in quadratum art from 2022

[gummi-ships]

Kingdom Hearts 3 - San Fransokyo

[moeblob]

Demyx (my beloved)

[endlessskymaster]

Hmm 🤔

This had me thinking since we see the dream eater symbol beneath Riku in the Kingdom Hearts 3 Secret Ending. Dream Eater Riku in phase 2!

[dreamsy990]

fuck akuroku as a ship btw not only because its pedophilic because thats obviously a huge issue. but also i think we should be able to have platonic relationships with the same amount of devotion as any romance. not everyone who loves each other is in love DEREK.

[spiciestmarinara]

Playing Birth by Sleep gave me a lot of interesting clarity for the relation between that, Kingdom Hearts (1), Chain of Memories, Days, and Kingdom Hearts II-ish.

All that said, I still don’t know how I would explain what Kingdom Hearts actually is to someone fresh to the idea.

[mythicalartistx]

What hairstyle is better?

Pre-Heartless/DDD cut or Heartless cut

The bottom one looks way better on the model, like it looks more natural and blends in better.

Then on the heartless cut, it is all choppy and you can pick out each hair layer which isn't a good thing. It looks like sticks and it looks odd on him. The top one is just off in general.

I mean the heartless did get him a haircut so that's probably why he looks choppy but still... Maybe that's why in the secret ending Riku hair looks way better and smoother because he actually did something to his hair.

He probably was distracted with the ending battle with Xehanort not to care and finally fixed it or while Sora's disappearance FOR AN ENTIRE YEAR sadden him, his hair grew on its own and did something to look a bit better.

[goldenchocobo]

Here’s what I’ve been working on, it’s taken a month, but I’ve finally completed it!

All 13 14 Organization XIII members with flowers!

I did reuse some flowers; but I’ve been wanting to redraw those portraits for a while now, so I can cross that off the list too

Under the KEEP READING are the flowers included, along with why I chose them for that Organization Member.

- You've clicked the 'Keep Reading', so you're in for the long-haul; 14 flower analyses in one! Better get snug!

I. Anemone flowers (also called wind flowers) have a lot of meanings, more negative than good ones; the ones I singled out for Xemnas was death and loss. Flower meanings require a lot of context- like sentences, so in this instance, I’ve used ‘loss’ to mean ‘loss’ in a general sense- Xemnas lost his heart, his comrades, his emotions; and by the end of KHIII; even his motivation; saying he doesn’t really care for his comrades’ demises, and that after he’s gained any kind of sensation back; it’s regret.

II. Knowing Xigbar is keeping all kinds of secrets, and knowing them is his business, Snapdragons are perfect. White and purple denote the spiritual and mystic. Them covering his mouth means that he knows something you don't, and he won't tell you anything.

III. We don’t know much about Xaldin- or Dilan. But with how I interpret him and his actions; he’s someone who has been scorned before- or at least has a lot of jealous dislike towards relationships and is sickened by how love makes people act. Hydrangeas are a flower both used for some wedding bouquets, as well as denoting jealousy, especially in their purple-blue colouration, as it's higher pH that causes the flowers to be that colour.

IV. Azeleas are flowers of two halves. They can mean Temperance and intelligence, but also temptation and caution. This is why I thought it was perfect for Vexen. Not only does he give into the temptation of his (immoral) research- more than once, but also ignored the dangers of it. When he's recompleted, we can see that he's gotten rid of these temptations (or at least I hope so). I made them orange to deeper the 'danger' and 'caution' theme as orange is a colour in nature that denotes it- like toxic amphibians and insects.

V. Lexaeus is a quiet man; so I don't really know much about him other than that he's strong and wants to protect Ienzo/Zexion; as such gladiolus- a symbol of such strength and protection is perfect for him.

VI. Zexion is interesting because I kind of see him as a tragic two-sided character. His scheming, 'throwing morals out the window and toying with people' Zexion in CoM side, and his more naïve, innocent and caring Ienzo side we see in KH3. I gave him Begonias for this reason; the purple in one hand representing mystique and curiosity, whilst white being for a more innocent side to him. I specifically chose Begonia pavonina leaves because they look weird and mystic and kind of match his shimmering hair.

VII. I've already used yellow roses for Siax/Isa, in the same configuration as well; and the meaning remains the same. Yellow roses can sometimes mean jealousy- especially towards friendships. Siax got too into his head about Axel making friends. That was when his jealousy took over, and he was lead by it.

VIII. Axel has had Alestromeas before- as they usually mean strong bonds of friendship; something Axel and Lea has shown over and over again. Like with Siax, I chose to make them a crown to show that, that friendship and keeping those friends safe is what drives him.

IX. It was kind of hard to come up with a flower for Demyx. originally I had him with Geraniums as they can represent folly; but instead, I went with Daisies; with the adage, 'Lazy Daisy'- for obvious reasons. Daisies- or asters- come in a large variety and specie. For Demyx, I chose two for aesthetic purposes; common daisy for around his head, and leucanthemum daisy for his neck- for their size.

X. Finding the right flower for Luxord was difficult. I did originally just have him with clovers, but felt that they didn’t suit. I chose poppies instead, as while they’re known for being symbolic of war & peace, fallen soldiers and death, there’s an under-current of time meaning; time being passed while we sleep, the time we remember the departed, and time marching on until the grave.

XI. For the longest time, Marluxia was going to have roses- it’s his whole motif; there’s rose iconography everywhere. But I chose Magnolias due to their symbolism of remembrance. While not fully aware until the very end, Marluxia was always searching for his sister, not believing that she had gone. The yellow Magnolias represent the joys he shared with her, whilst the purple imply the dignity of being a Union Leader, and Lord of Castle Oblivion.

XII. Marigolds are pretty, but their meaning is not... sometimes. Out of their meanings, I've chosen their meaning for Larxene to be one of cruelty and coldness. Because that's what she is to everyone.

XIII. Roxas keep his Dahlias from his original flower piece. The meaning remains the same; That- even in the face of hardship and despair, he will remain kind, friendly and cheerful.

XIV. I was going to reuse the obvious choice of Forget-Me-Nots for Xion; but honestly, I felt intimidated by how small they are, and- if you've paid attention, kept a strict number limit on my flowers; so that wasn't doable. Instead, I chose a Cornflower, which has a similar meaning of not being forgotten, as well as hope, devotion and love.

-

The stones inlayed in the frames have no real significance other than that they match the character's colour scheme; Here's what each stone is: Xemnas: Pearl Xigbar: Smokey Quartz Xaldin: Amethyst Vexen: Emerald Lexaeus: (orange) Agate Zexion: Lepidolite Siax: Moonstone Axel: Sunstone Demyx: Sapphire Luxord: Hematite Marluxia: Rose Quartz Larxene: Topaz Roxas: Snowflake Obsidian Xion: Obsidian

OK- I lied a little; there's some theming between characters, but nothing majorly deep; I haven't really looked into gemstones and their meanings.

If you've read this much, congratulations! Flower Count: Xemnas has 13. Xigbar has 3. Xaldin has 1. Vexen has 7. Lexaeus has 5. Zexion has 13. Siax has 7. Axel has 7 Demyx has 20 (13 common, 7 leucanthemum). Luxord has 7. Marluxia has 5. Larxene has 5. Roxas has 7. Xion has 13.

The only outlier is Xaldin; but Hydrangeas are hard to draw and only had the motivation to draw one.

[evenmorebeetles]

update to the saga: I said to my partner that it would be very cool if we got to see ven, aqua, and terra in their late 20s/early 30s like they would naturally be in the kh3 era, and it wasn't until they said "we do get to see terra at 30" that I found out that xemnas and ansem sod have terra's face. I was, up until that point, under the assumption that even terranort's face was different from base terra's. in hind sight this makes a lot of sense but god I hate it here

I just beat birth by sleep and the funniest thing is me being so hopelessly face blind that when vanitas took the mask off, I was like "ah yes black haired ven I suspected something like this" and my dear partner had to be like "hun that's sora" and it wasn't until then that the confused screaming kicked in

[firestorm09890]

The Axel quote "Go on, you just keep running. But I'll always be there to bring you back!" I feel is taken out of context a lot and if you know how he is and how much he will fight to get his friends back it feels like he's saying "you're my friend and whenever you feel like throwing your life away I'll bring you back to your senses", a sweet sentiment said in a very Axel way, except it's actually about him recapturing Xion to force her back into the Organization. She was going to throw her life away in this instance but it's sort of like going "no! don't kill yourself. you're going back to the place that made you want to kill yourself and you're not leaving". Could we maybe figure out how to make her not want to kill herself instead? The answer is "no" in this instance, by the way.

If the two options weren't "let Xion go and she'll kill herself" and "send her back to the evil place that want to do bad things to her" I'd say something about Axel being possessive and caring more about losing his source of happiness than the actual well-being of his friends (which actually has more merit than you might think, considering the line directly before the subject of this post was "You both... think you can do whatever you want. Well, I'm sick of it," referring to Roxas leaving the Organization to learn the truth from someone who would actually tell him) but that WAS the only alternative to Xion going off to die (aside from secret option 3, not making her come back to the Organization but also not allowing her to see Naminé, I guess, which probably would have ended in tragedy anyway) and that's honestly how the end of Days is. Everything is bad. I still think for the sea salt trio friendship to work post-kh3 he NEEDS to sit down with Roxas and Xion for a long and potentially brutal discussion about the consequences of his actions and how they were harmed by them but also man it sort of was a bitch of a situation

[cloudofash]

Kingdom Hearts is Like a Chess Game...And It Explains the Characters' Story Arcs

If you've played the series up until KH3 you should know that the story of Kingdom Hearts and the characters within our current tale are likened to pieces on a chess board an ample amount of times, especially where Eraqus and Xehanort's chess-like game are a literal re-enactment of the events of the KH3 Keyblade Graveyard war between Light and Darkness.

Despite Kingdom Hearts' chess-like game being well...chess-like and and not an exact 1:1 of chess, we know at the very least that there is a "King" piece within the Kingdom Hearts' chess game. With the introduction of Verum Rex (Verum meaning true Rex meaning King) in KH3 as well as one of the secret endings with Yozora in Re:Mind being titled "Falsus Rex" (False King) entertains the idea that our KH chess game maintains the same (or similar) chess pieces that regular chess has. That is, a King piece, Queen piece, 2 Rooks, 2 Knights, 2 Bishops and 8 Pawns.

This being said, I want to explore which Kingdom Hearts character is which chess piece.

We know there is a Verum Rex/True King and a Falsus Rex/False King. Yozora is the True King of his Quadratum Universe. The Kingdom Hearts universe is the unreality-reality mirror to Quadratum, meaning that there must be a True King in the Kingdom Hearts universe as well. The true "King" of the KH Realm is most likely Riku, the Keyblade's original and true chosen and he looks nearly identical to Yozora as opposite Kings on a chessboard would. The False King, in this particular case, would be Sora since he wasn't the Keyblade's true chosen and only obtained the power because Riku fell to darkness and his heart's light passed the Keyblade to Sora making him the replacement/fake. However, I don't believe being a False King is Sora's true role in the Kingdom Hearts game of chess. I believe that if Riku's heart never fell to darkness, Sora would be a completely different chess piece that I will get to later.

The other pieces contain a Queen, 2 Rooks, 2 Bishops, 2 Knights and 8 Pawns, giving us a 15 pieces (16 total if you include the King). Now in the Kingdom Hearts game of chess there are only 7 (original) Light Guardians, however in the final battle there are actually 10 Total Guardians: King Mickey, Sora, Aqua, Ventus, Axel, Kairi, (and Riku) are the original 7 and then Terra, Roxas and Xion join the fight after being saved. 12 if we count Donald and Goofy and 13 if we count Riku Replica, but it doesn't stop there. Namine made an appearance as well and helped shift the tide by finding Terra's Lingering Will and connecting him to the battle, and Master Yen Sid also joined the fight in the graveyard. The final piece and final character to help in the war is the light from the past, Ephemer.

In other words, we actually have all 16 chess pieces present in the Keyblade War (on both sides if we include Demyx, Vexen and the Xehanort Replicas as the final 3 to the 13 Darknesses). If we match the pieces with the characters I believe it goes something like this based not only on their role within the War but also their importance and contribution to the overall story. Please know that some of these positions can be debated:

Terra - Rook. Terra reconnecting with his Will and Body drastically alter the events of the Graveyard. TerraNort single-handedly defeated all of the Guardians and Terra's intervention stopped them from losing and altered the timeline altogether. Plus, Terra was also carrying the Heart of Master Eraqus who ultimately ended the war by stopping Xehanort. Considering Terra's value to the War, I can't view him as any piece less than a Rook.

Ephemer - Rook. Though he plays a minimal role in the entire Keyblade Graveyard war and no role at all in the entire Xehanort Saga, his small appearance is what saves the wielders from total demise yet again to the Giant Demon Tide. Since he saved Light from expiring at the part in time where they were destined to expire he is a crucial chess piece. And for those who know chess, the Rook piece is required for a "castling" a move that saves the King (or again, the False King) which is exactly, to me, what Ephemer did.

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Namine - Bishop. Her action of calling Terra changed the tide drastically. However, I will place her position as debateable as there may be others who you could count as a Bishop.

Yen Sid - Bishop. He saves the wielders from the Heartless Army, ultimately saving Light from expiring making him a key player in the War. Without him they most likely would have lost the war or would have been severely weakened and incapable of winning the war.

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Mickey - Knight. I give Mickey Knight status due to his Last Stand where he single-handedly pushed back all of the 13 Xehanort Replicas and saved everyone. It may not be timeline altering but it is still a contribution nonetheless.

Aqua - Knight. Debateable position, however Aqua took the lead at several points in the battle and barked battle instructions, almost acting like a military general. Thus I rank her above some of the others.

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Roxas - Pawn. Originally a pawn to Org 13, although he went through an incredibly journey he ended up locked away back into Sora's heart and wasn't able to participate or contribute to the war or storyline until he received a Replica body and Sora's connection.

Xion - Pawn. She was used as the 13th Darkness until Sora connected with her and helped Axel remember her.

Ventus - Pawn. He contributed to the war as an Original of the 7 Lights, but he did not alter the timeline nor save the Lights from expiring, nor did he take any lead during the war thus can only be considered a Pawn piece. Not to mention, he took an enormous backseat as a character after being asleep for 11 years. As such he hasn't had much time to shine since his Union Cross days. That may change in the next Arc, especially since he has ties to the Lost Masters.

Axel/Lea - Pawn. A literal Pawn to Org 13 for most of his story until the end when he final joins the the Guardians of Light. In fact, Xemnas even makes a chess analogy when calling Axel a "pawn" during his fight against Isa and Xion.

Donald - Pawn (extension of Sora)

Goofy - Pawn (extension of Sora)

Riku Replica - Pawn (extension of Riku)

And I know many will not like this, but I place Kairi as a Pawn. The reason isn't to shoot the character down, but I believe within the story she is literally treated like a Pawn. Her entire story begins with Xehanort treating her like a Pawn to get to the Keyblade Wielder. Narratively she is only used to push the stories further, constantly getting kidnapped or harmed. Some of the other characters are debateable but I stand firmly in that Kairi is a Pawn piece and it explains why she feels lackluster. She is meant to be, it's simply her role in the KH Chess Game. This doesn’t mean she'll stay a Pawn, as the Lost Master's Arc is starting a "new" KH chess game and thus the roles of many of the chess pieces (sans Riku and Sora) will change. I believe she'll be a Bishop in the Lost Master's Arc but as of the Xehanort Saga Kairi is only a Pawn.

But if Kairi is not the Queen piece, as I'm sure many of you initially thought, then who is?

I'm sure you noticed I skipped a character. That's right: Sora. Sora is the Queen piece in this game. A Queen piece acting in the place of the King, a false king. If you know chess you know that the Queen piece can move in any direction she wants as many spaces which is exactly what Sora is and what he can do. Sora is ridiculously OP as a character to the point he is often considered the most powerful and it's the Queen piece that is the most powerful, not the King piece as some unfamiliar with chess may believe. Sora can move any which way he pleases, even traverse time, travels worlds through hearts and hearts through worlds and even moves between Realms to save Riku from Dark Aqua as a Queen piece would rush to the save the King piece. All of which is reminiscent of a Queen moving all around a board in any way.

Riku is the King piece which is why the battle in the Keyblade graveyard wasn't considered over until Riku was defeated or checkmate'd. After Riku was defeated by the Demon Tide Storm, Sora was instantly knocked off the board. Also again, he is a mirror of Yozora much like the White and Black Kings in chess mirror each other. And if we think about the King piece in chess, Riku makes the most sense. The King is the most important piece and often times Riku is the most important to the story (especially Dream Drop Distance and now post Re:Mind) hence his character development and getting more development than Sora in many ways. In the Keyblade Graveyard War, he IS the most important as its his sacrifice that changes the timeline altogether and saves Light from Expiring. Without his sacrifice, the 13 Darknesses would have won and Light would have remained expired. It doesn't get any more important than that. In addition, if the Crown Necklace theory is proven true and Sora acquired his crown necklace chain from Riku, that means Riku was the original bearer of the Crown and most likely descends from Ephemer's Royal Line (which is all but confirmed, he literally looks like Ephemer) making him make even more sense as the King Piece.

Sora and Riku are the only two who I believe will keep consistent Chess roles as the King and Queen pieces. That's what their relationship is to one another. The only change I can see is Riku and Sora themselves officially swapping roles, with Sora becoming the True King and Riku relinquishing his role as King to become Queen. Considering the way Riku rushes to save Sora and how he travels to all ends to do so (including traveling to an entirely new universe just to save him once more and traveling between dreams to become a Dream Eater to save Sora), it almost is like he is beginning to move all around the "board" and could very well be showing signs of becoming a Queen piece to protect Sora, who would then become the new King piece.

We will have to wait and see which way this chess game goes in KH4 and beyond to confirm or deny any of this theory.

Anyway, that's all I have I hope you all feel free to share your thoughts. If you have alternate Chess Rankings, please feel free to share!

[ok4ru]

I got bored and made a Khux character dynamics board!!

Be warned KHUX SPOILERS!!

Board 1:

Ephemer and Brain: The OG boy in white and boy in black duo. (I'm going by timeline not by games because that would make Ven and Vani the OG duo) You either like it because of Eraqus and Xehanort's dynamic or you love it because how they really care about each other (The Khux secret ending hurt you didn't it?)

Or it is just aesthetically pleasing to your eyes ✨✨

Strelitzia and Lauriam the Flower siblings: God, where do I even start? This poor boy has been looking for his sister this whole series just to learn she died at the hands of one of his closest friend…

The scene of them showing how close they were to each other hurts knowing what their fates are and Lauriam character files make it even worse because he forgot what and who he was looking for then knowing how much it pains him during his Organization days…AND THE WORDS HE SAIDS BEFORE HE DIES IN KH3, UGH!!!

Then, wondering if Strelitzia remembered Lauriam or not which makes me very worried… :/

Strelitzia just wanted to stay by his side but couldn't in the very end…

LET THEM BE HAPPY NOMURA!!! >:(

(I can go on for days about them let's stop now… )

Skuld and Brain: You want it, I want it… Boy, do I have a fic for you! Let's go read Fallen Stars together <3 Ps. Go show the author some love/ support @corishadowfang

Maybe it’s because they’re aesthetically pleasing to you or you just like the smart and serious duo a lot.

These two are such an interesting pairing and wish they just did get more screentime with each other… :(

[gulava]

I think it's possible Riku will never return or at least will not end up living where the others are...And though he will be letting all that go, he'll still leave pieces of himself behind to fill the void. Now, there's two moments I've noticed that could hint towards this but only as a fan of the Roxas is Riku's Nobody theory and everything it entails.

The First Scene

In the KH3 ending, you see the framing of Roxas directly behind Riku as his shadow, actively engaging in an interaction with Terra and Aqua while Riku isn't even looking their way.

Then we see Riku glance at the Paopu tree and he moves forward, leaving Roxas where he stood alongside the friends he's made...in order to be with Sora, his most precious person.

The Second Scene

In the Radiant Garden episode, Riku has a little laugh with Terra inside a heart shaped symbol and Ventus comes running by to see what they're discussing, effectively taking Riku's place in the conversation and going forward...without him.

Ventus is shown to stand in front of Riku now as he's leaving with the others and the imagery is kind of a gut punch to me as it looks like Ventus is leaving Riku's heart behind because he's strong enough to exist on his own. I'm curious if he'll find WTTD in the Dark World.

If these aren't small nods to Riku's inevitable separation from Terra and Aqua, I don't know what they are. There's always been this underlying pain knowing that Riku could've been apart of the Wayfinder Trio if Xehanort hadn't gotten his way. It's something I'd compare to Sora and Kairi always passing each other by as Riku also drew himself with Terra and Aqua in the Secret Place.

"I can see my family anytime I want. If I stayed, I'd have to be apart from the person I love most...And that life would be empty. I finally know where I belong."

And Sora will be the reason for this separation, of course.

[kairithemang0]

I really hope that the Master of Masters isn't an already existing character. He's such an interesting character and I think that if they make him Demyx or Sora it'll kind of ruin him. We already have Luxu and Ventus as characters from the Land of Fairytales, we don't need Sora as well. Not to mention it would ruin Sora's character too! He's the main protagonist, we've seen his journey from start to end, he's a great character. If you turn around and say "now he's one of the main villains" that's really hard to pull off especially for someone as happy go lucky as Sora. Not to mention that the Master of Masters has done so many terrible things, so to make Sora and him the same character would be very out of character for Sora unless done right.

I've been talking a lot about if Sora's the master, so I want to touch on some of the other popular theories too. First off, Demyx. Honestly I think Demyx is a great character on his own, he's lazy, he's annoying, he just wants to sit around and play guitar. And maybe if he is the master it would make sense for why he just doesn't care, since he's just biding his time. But if he was Demyx it would overall be underwhelming because Demyx is just this weird guy with nothing super special about him. I'm putting my bets on Demyx being shown in Missing Link, since we know from a scene in kh3 that he does in fact have the ability to wield a keyblade. To me it's a lot more interesting if Demyx is just some guy.

Another theory I've seen floating around that I personally don't mind is that he's Yozora. The eye color and being in Quadratum is most of the evidence I've heard for it. But also to me it seems that the secret ending of 3 where Sora and Riku are both in Quadratum is happening at the same time, and Yozora and MoM are in very different places at the time so I don't know how accurate that actually is.

Personally I like the idea of MoM being "the light". From a scene in Re:Mind that I don't remember if it was in Dark Road or not, MoM says his name and the screen goes white. And since his goal is to defeat all the darkness, it would make sense that he himself is the light. I think that this would give him interesting interactions with Riku too, since Riku uses both the darkness and the light. It would also be interesting to have a villain using the light for bad, I think that would give many characters doubt about what they believe, since so many of them hate the darkness and what it brings.

Whoever the Master ends up being, I just want him to be entertaining. He's such an interesting character while also being funny as hell, and he's overall just fascinating to theorize about, especially in this current time between 3 and 4, since I doubt we'll see any of him in Missing Link.

[endlessskymaster]

The foreshadowing of Riku and Sora's fates.

Much later...

We know that Sora eventually finds himself in the nighttime version of the final world. Yozora likely assists him in reaching Quadratum, or perhaps Sora manages to get there by other means via the wild card Luxord gave Sora. Meanwhile, Riku is currently embarking on his own journey to Quadratum.

And from the KH3 secret ending, we do see Yozora staring down at Riku.